About Me

An enthusiastic teacher turned librarian turned support engineer, I have a diverse background and broad interests. While primarily working with web technology, I have interests in general computing and technology, instruction, accessibility, information management, technical services and metadata, and documentation among others.

I am always on the look out to improve existing services and implement new ones. While not a programmer or developer, I like to learn and I am not afraid to work with and dig into code. My methodology is very much user oriented in all my projects and work (at least as much as possible), and my aim is to improve the user experience and quality of life (at work) for team members.

Outside of GitLab, I mentor students as part of the UBC Arts Co-op Students’ Association mentorship program, which is a one-on-one mentorship program, mostly helping students with their applications, interviews, and professional development. I also mentor through the Aspire mentorship program by Support Driven.

I am also a proud mentor as part of Canada Learning Code (formerly, Ladies Learning Code), a non-profit that holds technology workshops. Mostly, I volunteer for HTML/CSS, web design, WordPress, and Teachers Learning Code, but also Photoshop and Hack-a-thon workshops.

Last but not least, I help with organizing conferences and workshops whenever and wherever I can (see the list below).

You can follow me on twitter or find me elsewhere through about.me.

Current Employment

Senior Support Engineer (previously: (Senior) Support Agent, Support Engineer) at GitLab (2018 – Present)

  • Engage and solve customer problems via email and video conferencing.
  • Collaborate with engineers and the GitLab Community to escalate and fix bugs, and build new features.
  • Create and update documentation for internal processes, and for GitLab related products especially based on customer interactions.
  • Participate in the GitLab.com Incident Management rotation to provide 24/7 emergency customer response in coordination with the Production team.

Additionally, at the Senior level:

  • Build and iterate efficient processes for the Support team.
  • Understand and debug at an expert level.
  • Mentor and train other members with focus to level others up to Senior, and including new technologies and new GitLab features.
  • Assist in hiring by reviewing applications, assessment, and performing interviews; and onboarding of team members.
  • Contribute to complementary projects.
  • Liaise with other teams to collaboratively improve the software, processes, and user relations.
  • Work alongside other teams to define and shape goals, priorities, and strategy based on front line knowledge of customer needs.

I also freelance and consult in various areas as time permits, including

  • accessibility,
  • web services,
  • user experience,
  • metadata and technical services,
  • automation and workflow,
  • documentation and technical writing,
  • and project management.

Recent (5 years) Employment

  • Accessibility Consultant: Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 Report for City of Gulfport, Florida (2018)
  • Manager of Technology and Technical Services at the New Westminster Public Library (2016 – 2018)
    • Oversaw day-to-day operations in technical services, technology, and assist in other areas.
    • Managed acquisitions for library collections including e-resources.
    • Managed vendor relationships and contracts related to technology, technical services, and acquisitions.
    • Ensured cataloguing and classification of materials balanced industry standards with the needs of library users.
    • Managed public facing technology overall.
    • Liaised with City IT staff regarding technology used in the library.
    • Made recommendations to the Leadership Team regarding the need for emerging hardware, software, and technology services for the public.
    • Managed and administered the library’s integrated library system.
    • Coordinated and managed reports and statistics relating to technology and technical services, or originating from the ILS.
  • Content Coordinator, for the National Network of Equitable Library Service at the BC Libraries Cooperative (2014 – 2016)
    • Coordinated (and improved) the content processes and production of accessible formats, including copyright clearance.
    • Assisted with negotiating licenses and purchases for existing collections of accessible content.
    • Assisted with making partnerships with other accessible content producers to share collections and resources.
    • Assisted with CMS administration and web development as needed.
    • Managed metadata, cataloguing, and ingestion of produced and contributed titles and collections.
    • Trained staff, both in-person and at a distance, and provided resources on producing accessible formats, and managing content in NNELS.
    • Researched answers to legal questions in regards to accessible format production and distribution.
    • Supervised students and contract workers assisting with production.
  • Web Accessibility Consultant, for Support Students with Disabilities website at Justice Institute of British Columbia (JISC) (2016)
    • Worked with staff to ensure accessibility guidelines are met.
    • Provided reports and possible solutions to accessibility issues.
    • Provided training and resources on accessibility, particularly creating content and documents.
  • Other professional experience includes website redesign/development, user studies/user experience, accessible digital and physical materials, supervision, collaborative software (namely wiki) implementation and administration, information management, reporting, research, planning, collection management, reference, and instruction.
  • Other previous experience include teaching, research support, tutoring, office/clerical support, and customer service.

Current and Recent (2 years) Volunteering

Recent (2 years) Presentations & Articles

Education

I finished my Master’s in Library and Information Studies (MLIS) at the University of British Columbia’s (UBC) School of Library, Archival, and Information Studies (SLAIS) in December 2011 and graduated in May 2012.

Previously, I completed a Bachelor of Arts in English and Psychology, then a Bachelor of Education, but began as a student in Software Engineering and Mathematics (at what is now SFU Surrey, but used to be TechBC).

Selection of Work

My previous presentations, articles, and blog posts cover accessibility, web technology, library services, managing projects and teams, and work/community culture. Since continually adding to the list will get too long, a selection of all blog posts and externally published work is below, broken down by topic, then in reverse chronological order:

Accessibility

Work/Community Culture & Similar

Project Management & Workflow

(Web) Design, Development, User Experience & Usability

Technical Services, Library Collections, & Metadata